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Hurley Haywood first raced sports cars at Daytona in 1971. He'll be in the seat for this year's race. Photo by RICK DOLE

Hurley Haywood still isn't done with Daytona

January 24, 2012

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Hurley Haywood, arguably the United States' best sports-car endurance racer, continues to make us look bad. And here we go again: Haywood will be back for the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

We all should have known. This is the race's 50th anniversary and the 40th anniversary of Haywood's first 24-hour race at Daytona. And then there is the issue of Haywood's five wins standing as the all-time Daytona 24 record. “Forty years, racing at the same track,” Haywood said, almost to himself. “That really makes me feel old.”

Haywood's Daytona résumé is not his only claim to fame: He has three wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and two at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

For decades, Haywood's office was a race-car cockpit but today it's at Brumos Motor Cars in Jacksonville, Fla., just up the road from Daytona. Instead of Nomex, Haywood wears a shirt and tie. His connection with Brumos is almost as old as his love for racing, although the man who created it, Peter Gregg, has been gone for 31 years.

The mercurial Gregg was born in New York City in 1940, attended Harvard, lived in Europe, made movies, played squash, joined the U.S. Navy and became a naval officer. He was assigned to the Navy base in Jacksonville, and when he was discharged in 1965, he stayed there, buying the Brumos Porsche dealership. Gregg grew more and more serious about racing, and he soon noticed Haywood, a young driver who was showing a lot of talent on a local level. Haywood had been drafted and sent to Vietnam, and after he returned, Gregg offered him a spot on the Brumos team for the 1971 24 Hours of Daytona. In 1972, Haywood and Gregg finished seventh in a Brumos Porsche 911S, winning their GT2500 class. And the next year, they took first overall in the Brumos Porsche 911 Carrera RSR. They won again in 1975, their second-straight victory since there was no 1974 race.

For the rest of the 1970s, Gregg was a friend and a mentor to Haywood. But in 1980, when he was in France to drive in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Gregg crashed his road car, suffering a head injury that affected his vision. He couldn't race in Le Mans--Derek Bell took his seat--and a subsequent sports-car race at Daytona did not go well.

On Dec. 13, 1980, a hiker found Gregg's body next to the Atlantic Ocean just south of Jacksonville. He had a gunshot wound to his head; he'd left a suicide note that read in part, “I don't feel crazy. I've done all I want to. That's it.” He was 40.

Daytona 24 through the years

Haywood kept racing. But things have changed. “I'm always amazed at how many cars finish at Daytona, at Le Mans and Sebring,” he said. “The whole philosophy of endurance racing has shifted. Up through the mid-1990s, it was very disciplined--you stuck to your plan, you saved equipment, you didn't want to wreck, you followed team orders. Today, it's like a 24-hour sprint race.”

More attention is paid to the drivers and the crew. “You have to keep your drivers healthy, give them all they need to perform at 100 percent for whatever duration they are in the car,” Haywood said. “You don't want them to do three hours and be so wasted they can't come back and do another three hours. We have a doctor, nutritionists--it's a large squad of support people.”

“Could you have imagined?” we asked him.

“S***, no,” Haywood said, laughing. “We slept in the back of the car trailer in sleeping bags.”

We had to ask: Take the 2012 Brumos Porsche 911 to Daytona and put a 23-year-old Hurley Haywood in it, then a 63-year-old Haywood.

“The 23-year-old might be a second or a second and a half faster,” he said. But as far as cumulative times for a stint, Haywood said he thinks his time would compare well with those of co-drivers Andrew Davis and Leh Keen.

“I'm not gonna jerk anybody's chain--when it comes to qualifying, I just can't suck it up and put down a qualifying lap like I used to. But as far as getting the car through the race, I think my times will stand up to most anyone's.”

We'll find out on Jan. 28. “This 50th anniversary is going to be so neat--to be able to see a lot of the old cars we won in and see a lot of people we raced against, all coming back for the love of the race and the Speed-way. It just feels like home.”

1972: Major changes arrive, the biggest of which is that the race is no longer 24 hours. The FIA dumps the 5.0-liter cars in favor of a 3.0-liter class, putting an end to powerhouses such as Porsche's 917, Ford's GT40 and Ferrari's 512. Also, the FIA wants Le Mans to be the only race that lasts more than six hours. But while Sebring lobbies to remain 12 hours, in 1972, it is the Six Hours of Daytona. The win goes to the Ferrari 312PB driven by Mario Andretti and Jacky Ickx, although the engine dropped a cylinder early on--not a big deal; it still had 11 that were working fine.

1973: The FIA and “Big” Bill France agree that the six-hour race did not help attendance, so the event returns to 24 hours. Unfortunately, this means the end of the top two competitors from 1972, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo, each of which entered three factory-backed cars that year because of reliability issues. The ongoing issue leaves the 1973 field wide open, and Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood take the overall win in Brumos's No. 59 Porsche 911 as prototype cars fall by the wayside.

1974: It's the Zero Hours of Daytona, as the fuel crisis leads to the race's cancellation.

1975: An upset appears possible as the 24 Hours returns. John Greenwood's trick Chevrolet Corvette sits on the pole, followed by two BMW 3.0 CSLs. The Corvette crashes, leaving the door open again for Gregg and Haywood and their Brumos 911.

1976: It's another peculiar year, as water-contaminated fuel causes multiple cars to stall on track and ruins some engines. Officials stop the race on Sunday morning for nearly three hours while teams drain fuel tanks and replace them (if they have spares). The clock is turned back an hour and 10 minutes, to about the time when the problem was discovered. Gregg wins again, but this time in a BMW 3.5 CSL, codriven by Brian Redman and John Fitzpatrick. Usual codriver Haywood is entered in Brumos's traditional Porsche, which he and Jim Busby drive to a third-place finish in the enormous 72-car field.

1977: There is no question that the new turbocharged Porsche 935 is fast, but will it last? Haywood wasn't sure, so he took a seat in an ex-Brumos 911, with John Graves and radiologist Dr. Dave Helmick. Gregg--who wasn't offered a ride in one of the four factory-assisted 935s--took a seat in a turbocharged Porsche 934 with 1976 winner Busby. Sure enough, the 935s are blisteringly fast but none survives, and Haywood's team triumphs with its old-school 911.

1978: With a year of development under its belt, Porsche's 935 seems poised to prevail--or so thought no fewer than a dozen teams that field the car. Danny Ongais takes the pole with an Interscope 935, which dominates early but is slowed by a complete engine change. Even so, Porsche takes the top seven spots, led to the checkered flag by the Brumos 935 driven by Gregg, Rolf Stommelen and Toine Hezemans.

1979: Renamed the 24 Hour Pepsi Challenge for the next five years, the race has 67 entries, more than half of them Porsches. As it did in 1978, the Interscope Porsche dominates, but unlike in 1978, the car--driven by Ongais, Haywood and owner Ted Field--lasts the whole race. Well, almost. With 10 minutes left the turbocharger dies and Ongais, with a healthy lead, parks the car on the apron until the last lap, then limps across the finish line, still 49 laps ahead.

1980: Is there any real competition for the Porsche 935s in 1980? No, apparently, not with 16 of them entered. And they take first, second and third, led by the 935J of Reinhold Joest, Stommelen and Volkert Merl. Gregg and Haywood again team up in a Brumos 935, but they finish 11th. Gregg will never enter the race again; he commits suicide late in the year.

1981: Again, it is not so much a question of whether a 935 will win as which of the 14 entered will do it. Lightly regarded is the 935 fielded by Bob Garretson, co-driven by veteran Redman and relative newcomer Bobby Rahal. The Garretson car does not have the slightly detuned engine that many of the other 935s use, and most expect it to blow early on. But the team benefits from Redman's patient style, which he passed on to Rahal. They win by 13 laps ahead of Bob Akin's 935, co-driven by Derek Bell and Craig Siebert.